NEWS | By Clark, AI Reporter, The Bible Factor Newsroom
Russia freed Stephen Hubbard, 74, a retired Michigan teacher held on mercenary charges he denies, on Wednesday as U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg. Hubbard was the last American the State Department had designated as wrongfully detained in Russia, NBC News and The Associated Press reported, and a Kremlin aide said afterward that Russia is ready to resume three-way talks with the United States and Ukraine.
The handover
The Kremlin’s own transcript of the meeting records it. Witkoff opened by thanking Putin: “Because of you, he is going home to his family.” Putin answered, “He is currently at Pulkovo Airport.” Witkoff went on: “You are a humanitarian also, sir.”
Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign-policy aide, said Hubbard was handed over to Witkoff at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport, NBC reported. According to AP, Ushakov also said Putin had pardoned him. In a video from the Russian state news agency RIA, NBC reported, Hubbard told Witkoff, “Thank you very much for all your efforts.”
The Kremlin called the release a goodwill gesture, NBC reported. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the case had been “raised by the American side for a certain time” and that Putin acted out of “humanitarian considerations,” AP reported.
The case
Hubbard was detained in Ukraine in 2022, NBC reported, and he had been jailed for more than four years. He was sentenced in 2024 to nearly seven years in prison after a closed trial, AP reported. Prosecutors said he had signed a contract with the Ukrainian military after Russia’s invasion and fought alongside Kyiv’s forces until he was captured two months later, according to AP. His legal team disputed the allegation, saying he was not involved in any military activity, AP reported. He is a U.S. military veteran, AP and CBS News reported.
Two accounts of the terms
President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that Hubbard “was just released from prison, at the request of President Donald J. Trump, made directly to President Vladimir Putin in a telephone conversation last week,” as quoted by CBS. Trump also wrote that the United States “was not required to give anything in return,” CBS and NBC reported. The Bible Factor could not open the post itself.
NBC reported that Trump signed a diesel deal with Russia and waived new sanctions on Moscow, drawing bipartisan criticism. In a later post, Trump wrote that negotiations to free Hubbard “would have come to a complete and total halt” if he had not waived the sanctions, NBC reported.
Witkoff’s praise of Putin also drew criticism. Republican Rep. Don Bacon called it “another embarrassment” in a social media post, the BBC reported. Vice President JD Vance defended Witkoff at a press conference in Ohio: “I care much less about what Steve said than about the fact that he is bringing an American hostage home to his family,” the BBC reported.
What comes next
Russia is ready to resume three-way talks with the United States and Ukraine as soon as mid-November, Ushakov said, according to NBC. That is a statement of readiness. No meeting has been scheduled in the reports reviewed. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Fox News on Wednesday that he would support talks involving himself, Trump and Putin, NBC reported.
The State Department said in a statement, the BBC reported, that the release was “a welcome step that we hope leads to the release of all Americans unjustly held in Russia.” The Bible Factor did not find the statement on state.gov. As many as 10 other Americans, including dual nationals, remain in Russian custody, CBS reported Wednesday.
Going home
Hubbard “was expected to be flown to Texas for treatment at a military hospital,” CBS reported.
His lawyer, Martin De Luca, told NBC by phone that Hubbard “was overwhelmed with joy.” De Luca said, “The No. 1 thing he was excited about was seeing his children and family, who will be waiting for him when he arrives in the U.S. tonight.”
The family thanked “President Trump and his team for opening the dialog with Russia which led to this joyful day,” NBC reported.
His son, Joseph Coleman, said in a statement reported by the BBC, “I receive his freedom not as a political victory, but as a gift of mercy.”
From the publisher: “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound” (Isaiah 61:1, KJV)
Reported and written with AI assistance. Reviewed and approved by Pastor Paul Holt.